Friday, December 31, 2010

"It is an architectural absurdity. Just south of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the Muslim world’s holiest site, a kitsch rendition of London’s Big Ben is nearing completion. Called the Royal Mecca Clock Tower, it will be one of the tallest buildings in the world, the centerpiece of a complex that is housing a gargantuan shopping mall, an 800-room hotel and a prayer hall for several thousand people. Its muscular form, an unabashed knockoff of the original, blown up to a grotesque scale, will be decorated with Arabic inscriptions and topped by a crescent-shape spire in what feels like a cynical nod to Islam’s architectural past. To make room for it, the Saudi government bulldozed an 18th-century Ottoman fortress and the hill it stood on. The tower is just one of many construction projects in the very center of Mecca, from train lines to numerous luxury high-rises and hotels and a huge expansion of the Grand Mosque. The historic core of Mecca is being reshaped in ways that many here find appalling, sparking unusually heated criticism of the authoritarian Saudi government. “It is the commercialization of the house of God,” said Sami Angawi, a Saudi architect who founded a research center that studies urban planning issues surrounding the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, and has been one of the development’s most vocal critics. “The closer to the mosque, the more expensive the apartments. In the most expensive towers, you can pay millions” for a 25-year leasing agreement, he said. “If you can see the mosque, you pay triple.”"

"Fewer than 20 percent of the women who contact Israel’s rape crisis centers file complaints, and of those cases that are filed, 64 percent end without an indictment, Ms. Schler said. “There is a culture of machismo here where men of privilege, especially those in power, feel that they can do what they want,” said Ms. Schler, who immigrated to Israel from Oceanside, in Nassau County, N.Y. She said the verdict “is an important message that they will be held accountable for their acts.”" Look at the last line: the conviction of one man will lead to holding all men accountable? What is that?

The vulgarity of Zionist propaganda in the New York Times knows no bound: "in that it upheld the value of equality before the law." The conviction of one person is an indication of equality before the law? What kind of logic is that? Does that mean that a conviction of white man in the American South in the 1930s was an indication of equality before the law? When New York Times reporters peddle pro-Israeli propaganda they should go slow, really.

So this Ben S (or B.S.) Cohen has a piece on Al-Akhbar. The dude, it seems, did not like the article by Worth on Al-Akhbar: perhaps because Zionist hoodlums don't like anti-Zionist success stories. But before I respond to this guy, I have to say this: how do I argue with a guy over a paper written in a language that he does not understand? Notice that when he tries to be smart (quoting Marx was for him a sign of intelligence but he forgot that Marx was quoting Hegel (Marx quotes Hegel (although nobody has ever been able to find the quotation in any of Hegel's writings--and I even looked one time and the closest you will find is this in hisPhilosophy of History: "A coup d'état is sanctioned as it were in the opinion of the people if it is repeated. Thus, Napoleon was defeated twice and twice the Bourbons were driven out. Through repetition, what at the beginning seemed to be merely accidental and possible, becomes real and established.") in his book the18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleonthat "Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce."). It is cute that this Cohen is offering advice to Al-Akhbar about the follies of Leftist alliances with Islamic fundamentalists: which raises a fundamental question. Are we to believe that this guy really is concerned over the plight of Al-Akhbar and the cause of the Left in general and merely wishes to offer advice? But forget all that: at the end of the article, he seems to find himself smart by offering advice on what the paper should cover. This part is laughable because the guy (who is arguing with an Arabic newspaper--and he does not read Arabic mind you) urges the paper to cover stories that he thinks is not covered by the paper when every one of them has been covered by Al-Akhbar: tons of criticisms of Hamas; attention to South Sudan; and articles against Saddam regime and his crimes. So do you understand my frustration when people in the US want to argue with me about Aljazeera or now about Al-Akhbar when they only know what MEMRI tells them? Lastly, the misquotation by Ibrahim Amin on Jews immigrating to Europe and US will soon become an accusation that Ibrahim Amin threatened "to throw the Jews into the sea." We know now without the shadow of a doubt that Zionist propaganda machine invented a lie and attributed to Nasser AND Ahmad Shuqayri when none of them ever uttered those words. Yet, an official Israeli Air Force commander ORDERED this soldiers on June 6th 1967 to push Arabs into the desert and yet no one talks about the factories of hate in Israel. Oh, one more thing: he suggests that support by the paper for gay rights and women's rights is due for gaining popularity. How dumb is that? You gain popularity by challenging the fundamental traditional beliefs? (thanks Sultan)

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Notice how Foxman so casually equates hostility to Israel with hostility to Jews. He does not even notice when he feigns sneakiness in pushing his political propaganda which now has no connection whatever with combating anti-Semitism--which he has excused repeatedly in the service of Israel. "The release of thousands of US diplomatic cables by the secrets outlet WikiLeaks has unintentionally led to the proliferation of anti-Israel conspiracy theories, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The ADL said that conspiracy theories linking Israel to WikiLeaks have circulated through online publications, where it has been suggested that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange struck a secret deal with Israeli officials over the leak of diplomatic cables; or that Assange actually works for Israel. "The WikiLeaks affair has given new life to the old conspiracy theories of underhanded Jewish and Israeli involvement in an event with significant repercussions for the US and many nations around the world," ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman said, according to a published statement." But Foxman does not disappoint: he never ceases to get dumber.

"As I’m about to start a four-month book leave." Four month only? No way. Please make it four years? Or Four decades, better yet. Make it indefinite, while you are at it. We are expecting a great book from you: another book in the same league with Hegel's Phenomenology of Mind. Oh, yeah. That is the only reason why I want you to extend your leave. Oh, yeah.

"A letter urging Jewish women not to date non-Jewish men has been published by a group of rabbis' wives. The letter comes on the heels of a rabbis' letter published earlier this month urging Jews not to sell or rent properties to non-Jews." (thanks Farah)

"But imagine Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman saying, "Gaza is an abscess, a troublesome pus. Until they understand what has to be done over there, nothing will move over here." Facebook would erupt, the comments would look akin to Der Sturmer, and intellectuals would wax nostalgic for Zionism's glory days (when they did things they didn't talk about and talked about things they didn't do ). But the description of the Gaza ghetto as an "abscess, a troublesome pus" was uttered - without any public reaction - by the Labor Party's Matan Vilnai, who has been working for years, in the name of the liberal consensus, to turn Gaza into hell, with a cruelty that owes nothing to any racist rabbi's wife...The serene liberal loves to be appalled by the right's racism..." (thanks Laleh)

This was quite the event: the wedding of Prince `Azzuz (King Fahd's favorite spoiled brat who spent millions on wooing Yasmeen Bleeth). Samir `Atallah (a typical Lebanese journalist in the service of House of Saud) talks about being there. A Saudi source sent me some private pictures from the wedding. Here are some (featuring head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Muqrin).

I wrote yesterday about Al-Akhbar's story in the New York Times. This sentence in the article got my attention; it said that Ibrahim Al-Amin wants to: "remove Israel from the map and send the Jews back to Europe." I asked Ibrahim and he tells me that he did not say that sentence that was falsely attributed to him. He said that the interview that was conducted by Robert Worth through an interpretor was not accurate in transcript perhaps because the interpreter who came with Worth was so "weak" that he and Mansour (a colleague at the paper who runs the website) had to correct her. He explained that he was talking about the future demise of Israel and that he added that in such eventuality many Israeli Jews may immigrate to Europe and the US. Ibrahim will be sending a correction to the New York Times.

US media are now as obsessed with silly rankings as Lebanese culture. But it is good that Lebanon does not appear (otherwise the Lebanonese would have gone mad--literally), but it is bad that there is always room for terrorist entity of Israel in such lists. (thanks L.)

"This week, a group of elderly Palestinian women were escorted to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance musuem to learn about the Jewish genocide in Europe. At the entrance of the museum, they were surrounded by a group of Jewish Israeli youth who recognized them as Arabs. “Sharmouta!” the young Israelis shouted at them again and again, using the Arabic slang term for whores, or sluts." (thanks Olivia)

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Persian ice cream in Baghdad? What will those fiendish Iranians do next? Hot dogs? Hamburgers? Oh, no, not tacos! To arms, Americans! Draft Ben and Jerry! Deploy Baskin and Robbins! We will take them on - flavor for flavor, scoop for scoop. And "Remember the a la mode!""

"In the heart of Baghdad's Green Zone, just yards from the mighty fortress of the biggest U.S. embassy in the world, a small but symbolic challenge to America's rapidly waning influence in Iraq is taking shape in the form of an Iranian ice cream parlor." (thanks May)

"Palestinian Ahmad Daana, 12, looks out from a police vehicle, as his mother and brothers (reflected in the window) watch, after Israeli police detained him on suspicion of throwing stones during clashes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, Dec. 26."

I mean, you really have to know no Arabic, and you really have not know nothing about Arab culture in translation, and you really have to have not read anything by Adonis in prose or poetry to write this ignorant sentence: "Adonis’s indifference to prizes appears to stem partly from modesty and partly, to judge from a noontime talk he gave on Tuesday, from a conception of poetry that transcends not just literary politics but politics altogether." To speak about the modesty of Adonis and about his ostensible indifference to prizes is to speak about the resistance activities of Salam Fayyad. (thanks Khelil)

"After four pages filled with detailed charts of the number of grams and calories of every type of food to be permitted for consumption by Gaza residents (broken down by gender and age), comes this recommendation: “It is necessary to deal with the international community and the Palestinian Health Ministry to provide nutritional supplements (only some of the flour in Gaza is enriched) and to provide education about proper nutrition.” Printed in large letters at the end of the document is this admonition: “The stability of the humanitarian effort is critical for the prevention of the development of malnutrition.”...Some of these changes are the result of international pressure exerted upon Israel. For example, when he visited Gaza last February, U.S. Senator John Kerry was stunned to discover that Israel was not allowing Palestinians to bring in trucks loaded with pasta...." (thanks Laleh)

"Sadly, the suicide rate among young people has increased as well. Some youths have even set themselves on fire in public to draw officials' attention to their depressed state. As the latest incident demonstrates, these acts are neither isolated nor exceptional. Rather, they express a deep sense of despondence among many youth that their chances for employment and a dignified life are dwindling."

"A classified report by the Israel Bar Association obtained by Haaretz provides a glimpse into the harrowing conditions prisoners separated from the main jail population must endure. According to the document, which is the first external review of the Prison Service, the isolation wings at the Ayalon and Shikma prisons are not fit for human habitation and “look more like a dungeon,” while most solitary cells in prisons across the country are “crammed, rancid with smells of sewer and mold, and infested with insects.” “It’s difficult to ignore the feeling that isolation as practiced today serves a function of punishment rather than imprisonment,” wrote the authors of the report, Michael Atia – chairman of the prison service committee at the Israel Bar Association, and Moran Kabalo – chief of criminal law for the IBA. “This is a unilateral instrument of punishment used primarily against organized crime groups,” the report reads.""

"US President Barack Obama has called King Abdullah to hail his recovery “progress,” the White House said, in the strongest indication of the Saudi monarch’s improving condition since he left a US hospital after back surgery."

"Dubai Police Chief Lt General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim recommended a quota system for all nationalities in the UAE to keep the expat population in the country in check, it has been reported this morning." (thanks Khalid)

"The United Arab Emirates chose to release details of a Hamas leader's assassination in Dubai nearly a year ago, after deciding silence would be seen as siding with Israel, U.S. cables released by WikiLeaks showed."

"In a single day in Israel’s kangaroo courts, a right-wing terrorist was sentenced to a few months of street cleaning while a non-violent activist dedicated to stopping the occupation was jailed under the most specious charges. And while Pollak’s sentencing was reported with great fanfare in Israel’s major papers, Naky’s passed below the radar (Yedioth devoted just six lines). The contrast in punishments represented just another symptom of a sick society unwilling to face the Molock in the mirror."

One of the most amusing reactions about Tunisia came from a senior Saudi propagandist, `Abdur-Rahman Ar-Rashid (formerly editor-in-chief of Prince Salman's mouthpiece, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat, and later director of the private TV station of King Fahd's brother-in-law which is run now by King Fahd's son, `Azzuz). Ar-Rashid--I kid you not--urged that Tunisia allows more political participation. He almost asked that Tunisia copy the democracy model of the House of Saud.

"Reporting of these events has been sparse, to say the least. The Tunisian press, of course, is strictly controlled and international news organisations have shown little interest: the "not many dead" syndrome, perhaps. But in the context of Tunisia they are momentous events. It's a police state, after all, where riots and demonstrations don't normally happen – and certainly not simultaneously in towns and cities up and down the country.

So, what we are seeing, firstly, is the failure of a system constructed by the regime over many years to prevent people from organising, communicating and agitating. Secondly, we are seeing relatively large numbers of people casting off their fear of the regime. Despite the very real risk of arrest and torture, they are refusing to be intimidated. Finally, we are seeing the breakdown of a long-standing devil's compact where, in return for submitting to life under a dictatorship, people's economic and welfare needs are supposedly taken care of by the state." (thanks Anindya)

"Dozens of Jaffa residents held a demonstration outside a school Tuesday protesting the fact that the school's principal prohibited Arab students from speaking Arabic inside classrooms. Students who attended the rally accused him of racism. The protest was also attended by Tel-Aviv-Yafo councilman Ahmed Masrawai who slammed the principal's decision noting that Arabic is considered an official language in Israel. "I dare you to forbid Lieberman from speaking Russian at the Knesset," he said."

"A senior United Nations official today condemned the demolition of two refugee homes in East Jerusalem, stressing in particular the trauma caused to Palestinian children forced to witness their homes being destroyed.
"These condemnable acts have a devastating impact," Barbara Shenstone, the West Bank Field Director for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said in a news release. "I call on the Israeli authorities to cease demolitions and evictions in occupied areas which are in contravention of Israel’s obligations under international law, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Israel is a party."" (thanks Olivia)

"A cable sent from the embassy in Dubai less than a month after the assassination reveals that senior U.A.E. officials asked the American ambassador and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to probe urgently “cardholder details and related information for credit cards reportedly issued by a U.S. bank to several suspects” in the murder. The WikiLeaks cable not only proved that the request was indeed made but that it was recorded in a secret State Department cable. By not accepting the request, the Obama administration harmed the Dubai investigation efforts and assisted Israel instead."

"﻿The Arabic Network for Human rights Information today denounced the security siege and the ruthless assaults on protesters and demonstrators in the recent protests in many Tunisian cities against unemployment and deteriorating economic conditions. Many Tunisians were arrested and tortured in police stations. Security opened fire on demonstrates leading to one young man killed and many injured. The Tunisian government is leading a crackdown on alJazeera for covering the riots and the security encroachments." (thanks "Ibn Rushd")

So Robert Worth has an article about Al-Akhbar in the New York Times. What do I think? Well, for one, it must be difficult to write an article about a paper that you can't read. How does one judge a paper that one can't read even if you talk to many people? I think that the article contains seeds of truth about the atmosphere of the paper. As seasoned Lebanese mainstream journalist, Rafiq Khuri, told me over the summer: it is a reporters' newspaper. He commented on the lack of a big shot publisher. The largest owner of the paper, Hasan Khalil, really does not interfere in the paper whatsoever (I once witnessed how editor-in-chief, Khalid Saghiyyah nixed an idea by Khalil and in strong language.) When Khalil first called me (before we met in Beirut) to discuss the paper and my articles, he asked me if he could offer comments to me about my articles. I said: you can as a reader, but I won't accept them from you as the publisher. The notion that Khalid and Omar "are Western-friendly" is outright silly: as if some diabolical conspiracy drive the paper--a paper that advertises (prominently) for Whiskey brands. Of course, its Saudi and Hariri enemies have nothing to attack except to refer to the paper as "pro-Hizbullah" or as the mouthpiece of Hizbullah. To them, I offer them a challenge. They are indeed mouthpieces of House of Saud princes and Hariri family members: can they dare to ever mildly--to use the word of Worth--criticize any aspect of Hariri or Saudi policies, I would then accept their labels. As Worth pointed out, the paper regularly carries criticisms of Hizbullah. Worth did not mention that Ibrahim Al-Amin (who is friends with Hizbullah leaders) wrote one of the most strident attack on Hizbullah in the wake of the Salah `Izz Id-Din scandal referring to corruption with the party. So has Khalid Saghiyyah. I wrote a 2400 words article on how Hizbullah is a sectarian party. But the publicity for Al-Akhbar is not bad these days: not that it needs it. But Worth needed to place the success of the paper in the context of the bankruptcy of Arab media in general. (thanks Mansour and Mirvat)

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

"Local officials in Madama village, south of Nablus, said Monday that dozens Israeli settlers from the nearby Yitzhar settlement were behind the torching of agricultural lands and an attack on a farmer." (thanks Olivia)

"The Israeli army’s "looting" of books belonging to Palestinian intellectuals is the subject of a documentary being made by Dutch-Israeli film maker Benny Brunner. He claims as many as 30,000 Arabic books and manuscripts, some of them rare and valuable, ended up in Israel’s National Library after the 1948 war.Brunner’s interest in the story was sparked by an article written by young Israeli academic Gish Amit who stumbled across books while researching his Ph.D. According to Mr Amit, the library "collected" the books from the private collections of Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in 1948."

"But almost as soon as he closed the door that day in 2005 his phone rang. It was an executive atNorthrop Grumman, asking if he was interested in working for the manufacturer of the B-2 stealth bomber as a paid consultant. A few weeks later, Martin received another call. This time it was the Pentagon, asking him to join a top-secret Air Force panel studying the future of stealth aircraft technology. Martin was understandably in demand, having been the general in charge of all Air Force weapons programs, including the B-2, for the previous four years. He said yes to both offers...The Globe analyzed the career paths of 750 of the highest ranking generals and admirals who retired during the last two decades and found that, for most, moving into what many in Washington call the “rent-a-general’’ business is all but irresistible. From 2004 through 2008, 80 percent of retiring three- and four-star officers went to work as consultants or defense executives, according to the Globe analysis. That compares with less than 50 percent who followed that path a decade earlier, from 1994 to 1998." (thanks Farrah)

"But the distress does not contradict the racism, it goes hand in hand with it. In its early days, when Israel's character was taking shape, it determined that the white race was superior. When the people who would eventually become "Mizrahim" arrived and were brought here from North Africa, it wasn't suggested or made possible for them to take part in the government, the land, the systems of power and the media. Very quickly they became citizens, but second-class citizens subject to humiliation and inferior conditions. They were excluded from public life and official cultural life, living with the knowledge and experience of inferiority. And separation: They were put in separate housing projects and separate neighborhoods. People who grow up with this experience of inferiority, when racism is directed at them, internalize that racism. When a landlord, the master, determines that white is good and black is inferior, you internalize that standard and hate yourself because you are not white. The standard of white superiority and the racism that comes with it become part of you, even when you are its victim." (thanks Sarah)

""Kill them...including the children." That's how to solve the threat of militant Muslims? This quote is from what one official involved in homeland security said was the theme of a speech by Walid Shoebat at an anti-terrorism training in Las Vegas in October 2010. Our source had turned around after Shoebat's speech and asked the woman in the chair behind them at the conference what she thought was the solution offered by Shoebat. "Kill them...including the children...you heard him," was the full response. Shoebat's Las Vegas speech was described by our source as "frightening." Bigoted trainers including Shoebat are highlighted in today's Washington Post article on"Monitoring America." Much of this information is new. Some of it was previously documented in a PRA Report, "Platform for Prejudice." Shoebat and the larger issue of how "Right-Wing Firms Train Public Servants on Terror Threats" is the topic of a new report to be issued in January by Political Research Associates (where I work). OK, not credited for our work by the Washington Post and then partially scooped on this topic just as we are about to release our report. Sigh. That's real life. Back to Shoebat." I mean, even the New York Times had exposed the lies of this guy. (thanks Sellam)

Director of Al-Arabiyya TV, `Abdur-Rahman Al-Rashid Hearts Al-Saudi, said: "The assassination of Mahmud Al-Mabhuh in Dubai was an seemingly an ordinary operation in the actions of the Israeli Mossad." And you still need proof--even without Wikileaks--of the Israeli-Saudi alliance?

Look at the quality of Fouad Ajami's analysis of the Middle East--I mean, even Thomas Friedman does better than this old cliche: "“Arabs understand Marty. He has that Middle Eastern quality: me against my brother, me and my brother against my cousin, me and my cousin against the world.”" (thanks David)

Sunday, December 26, 2010

"One person was killed and others injured when Tunisia's National Guard members opened fire on angry protesters in the town of Menzel Bouzaiene over the weekend. The state-run news agency TAP quoted an unnamed security official as saying that guard members were forced to use their weapons in self-defense after "a group of individuals set ablaze a railway engine and set fire to three National Guard vehicles before raiding the city's National Guard station." The source added that several guard members were burned, including two who fell into a coma. Mohamed Fadel, leader of the secondary school union in Menzel Bouzaiene, identified the man who died as Mohamed Ammari, 18. "Several thousands took part in the riot. Many arrests have been made and the whole town, which is located in the governorate of Sidi Bouzid, has been sealed off by security officers," Fadel told Agence France-Presse. The death comes as riots and demonstrations against unemployment and poor living conditions entered their ninth day in Sidi Bouzid. Unrest scattered across the region after the suicide attempts of two young persons last week."

I read that the PFLP has rejected an offer of financing from Hamas after the PLO cut off funding to the PFLP. First, why the notions of pride when the PFLP--especially its branch in the West Bank survived on subsidies from Abu Mazen collaborationist gang? Secondly, why should the PFLP exists at all when there is no reason for tis existence and when no new members have been joining and won't be joining? Really. Unlike the DFLP, the PFLP did not husband its resources well over the years.

"-In a new act of depravity, a pair of telephone terrorists last week gleefully humiliated an Army paratrooper during a bizarre telephone prank that resulted in the soldier actually ingesting his own waste products, The Smoking Gun has learned. The duo was so impressed with their demented handiwork that one of the pranksters declared that the 22-year-old victim--who served nearly a year in Iraq--“ain’t getting a PTSD from Iraq, he’s getting it from…the call.”"

"The landscapers of evil can be reassured: The seeds of racism and hatred are sprouting well and even bearing nice fruit. Following the heartwarmingrabbis' letter, which called on the faithful not to rent or sell apartments to Arab citizens, we saw an anti-Arab protestin the city of Bat Yam earlier this week. It was a classic horror show, with the role of monsters played by the Ismaelites (who have the chutzpa to possess Israeli ID cards.) They walk our streets, shop at our malls, and try to woo our women, thereby apparently tainting our race."

"Out of desperation, she dialled the number of a man she had met months earlier, and agreed to sleep with him for 200 shekels (54 dollars, 41 euros). Not long afterwards, Abu Amra was arrested on suspicion of immoral behaviour. She was hauled before a judge and ordered to attend 30 days of pre-trial detention at the Training and Reform Centre for Women, Gaza's only prison for women. The facility is run by Hamas, which has been in control of the Gaza Strip since 2007. The group won legislative elections in 2006, and a year later seized control of the coastal enclave after deadly confrontations with rival Fatah. Since coming to power, the Islamist group has sought to bolster Gaza's conservative religious mores, although it has rescinded some controversial measures, including one banning women from publicly smoking the waterpipe." (thanks Olivia)

"They are the real heroes of the Haitian earthquake disaster, the human catastrophe on America's doorstep which Barack Obama pledged a monumental US humanitarian mission to alleviate. Except these heroes are from America's arch-enemy Cuba, whose doctors and nurses have put US efforts to shame." I an only imagine US propaganda spin on this one: it would be along the lame and stupid lines of: well, they are communists.

"The Israeli military is making rare use of an emergency regulation enacted by the British Mandate in 1945 to order the temporary banishment of a Palestinian activist from his home city of Jerusalem. Adnan Gheith, 35, faces expulsion for four months from the city because of his part in protests at mounting encroachment by Jewish settler groups in the politically ultra-sensitive Silwan neighbourhood of inner-city Arab East Jerusalem." (thanks Arun)

I have no doubts that if it was not for unconditional US political support for Israel and all its crimes, the entire world--including the weak EU--would have risen up in outrage against such a criminal and racist state.

"The hotel also claimed the tree was not a stunt, but rather an effort to boost the holiday mood for its guests based on the United Arab Emirates' "values of openness and tolerance."Although officially Muslim, the UAE features many signs of Christmas for its huge foreign population. Lights, carolers and Santas are fixtures in nearly every mall." (thanks Muhammad)

"The recent groundbreaking for a newPalestinianAuthority presidential headquarters here in Ramallah underscored an unprecedented building and investment boom in the West Bank city. Land prices have tripled. International hotel chains are arriving. And master-planned housing projects are underway around town to accommodate a fast-rising population." Here are the facts: according to World Bank figures, growth rates in Gaza--besieged Gaza for potato's sake--are higher than those of the West Bank. And the bulk of growth rates in West Bank is driven by the political subsidies donated by West to Ramallah collaborators and their projects.

"Turkey's foreign ministeron Saturday said the country wants improved ties withIsraelbut it must apologize and offer compensation for its deadly raid on a Gaza Strip-bound aid flotilla." (thanks Olivia)

"Most of the licenses were approved under a decade-old law mandating that agricultural and medical humanitarian aid be exempted from sanctions." The paper that spearheaded the call for war on Iraq, now wants a war on Iran.

"The conversation should also be understood as having occurred within 15 minutes of a meeting between Nixon and Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir that was attended also, and only, by myself and Israeli Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin. That meeting agreed on military deliveries (especially airplanes)". (thanks Nabeel)

"The UN relief agency UNRWA has condemned Israel's demolition of homes in East Jerusalem, up 45% this year. It said 396 buildings were razed in 2010, compared with 275 last year, in occupied East Jerusalem and other West Bank areas under Israeli control. As a result, 561 Palestinians - including 280 children - were displaced, it said." (thanks Sarah)

"In one case, a man's request for protection was rejected by Interior Ministry officials, who did not believe he was a Borgo tribesman from Darfur. He wasn't Sudanese, officials concluded, based in part on his poor knowledge of "elementary details about Sudan" and his meager Arabic. "

"A group of political dissidents charged with plotting against the government of Bahrain are stonewalling the prosecution by refusing to cooperate with state-appointed lawyers after their own legal team withdrew in protest over the authorities' refusal to investigate torture claims. On Thursday, the trial for 25 dissidents accused of terrorism was adjourned until Jan. 6 after the state-appointed lawyers told the court they could not do their job without their clients' cooperation, according to organizations following the case. Local media has been barred from covering the trial."

"The UAE has proven especially visionary in its pursuit of offsets – pioneering practices like “offset banking” – which allows multiple defense contractors with offset obligations to dump money into a fund designated by the government, as well as the increasingly popular “pre-performance” offset, in which companies make an investment in the procuring country before the bidding process even begins. So far at least three firms that set up businesses in the UAE in hopes of securing future contracts eventually lost out to competitors or saw the predicted deals disintegrate: McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) set up a Berlitz Language School in the run-up to its (ultimately) failed bid to supply fighter jets; Newport News (now part of Northrop Grumman) created Abu Dhabi Ship Building in anticipation of subsequent deals for fast patrol vessels it likewise failed to secure; and British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) helped start the aircraft leasing company Waha, for yet another deal that never transpired.[3] Perceptions of the success of the UAE’s program have been so compelling to the Emirates’ neighbors that Abu Dhabi’s annual conference on defense offsets is attended by leaders from almost every Arab state, even those who claim not to engage in offsets – usually because they rely on U.S. military aid which technically prohibits them from demanding offsets from U.S. firms. Efforts have also been made in the GCC to consolidate regional offset programs in order to leverage the members’ collective purchasing power and compel defense manufacturers to meet increasingly stringent offset requirements." (thanks Laleh)

Thursday, December 23, 2010

"Shlomo Aviner, one of Religious Zionism's leading rabbis, has stated that responses to articles on websites should not be read due to fears that doing so would lead to religious and moral transgressions."

A Saudi dilemma is when a Saudi Prince or King in his mid-80s is asked whether he would rather be rushed into a hospital or the grave? If I am asked to advise Saudi King and princes, I strongly recommend the grave--purely on medical grounds, of course.

"Rihani was “the first Lebanese-Arab thinker and philosopher who wrote in English and Arabic,” says the younger Rihani. The issue of East and West was “voiced by Rihani” and revived the public’s awareness." Rihani (whose writings I like from a literary point of view) was the first paid promoter of House of Saud in the Arab world. And notice that all participants of this Rihani conference were...Lebanese. Lebanon is a country where The King of Potato (Malik Al-Batata) is described as Philosopher of Potato Ethics. (thanks Ahmad)

"The mayor of a Jewish suburb of Nazareth sparked outrage on Wednesday after refusing to allow Christmas trees to be placed in town squares, calling them provocative. "The request of the Arabs to put Christmas trees in the squares in the Arab quarter of Nazareth Illit is provocative," Mayor Shimon Gapso told AFP." (thanks Olivia)

"Awan said that there were horrifying incidents of atrocities that men commit in this part of the world. As reported 75,039 cases of violence against women have been reported in the last 9 years while 13,972 women have been murdered. About 17,107 women have been subjected to torture and 452 women were raped and then murdered. Large attributes of violence are as such: lack of access to education and opportunity and low social status in communities are linked to violence against women. Violence by a close relative is one of the most common form of violence against women. Honour killing is still widespread in Pakistani society as per the data record."

"The Norwegian newspaper Bergens Tidende reported on the 20th of December from Wikileaks document a report aboutt a private dinner with the American ambassador to Lebanon in August 2006. At the dinner, Norwegian Terje Roed Larsen told the ambassador that none of the possible candidates to take over the UN secretary general were acceptable. He said that the only person who should get the job was himself. And asked for US support. The ambassador described Roed Larsens ambitions with a solid dose of sarcasm. And then added in the cable: Roed Larsen went on to say «And if Prince Zaid of Jordan becomes the front-runner, then the U.S. should demand that Prince Zaid «have a ticket,» with - you guessed it, readers - Larsen as Deputy SYG,» It has to be added here that several years later, Mona Juul, Roed Larsen’s wife, broke the usual code of conduct for diplomats by openly criticizing Ban Ki-Moon, the man who got the job of UN secretary general instead of her husband and as the following document from the unforum point out, the written critique may not have been her work, but rather Roed Larsen’s handiwork." From the hometown Norwegian newspaper of Larsen--translation by Michael. (thanks Michael)

"The day after ground troops entered the Gaza Strip during Operation Cast Lead two years ago, S., a soldier in the Givati Brigade, allegedly shot a woman in her upper body while she was carrying a white flag. About half an hour later, S. subsequently told the Military Police, the company commander arrived and S. was stunned by his response. "He told me, in front of everyone, 'You're a cold-blooded murderer, you'll go to hell,'" S. said. "When I tried to tell him, 'But those were your orders,' he told me, 'Shut up. You won't remain in my company.'"
"But that was it. From then on, until the end of the fighting, it was if nothing had happened," S. related.
.. "The battalion commander arrived and asked 'Who fired?' I said, 'I fired,'" S. recalled. "He asked, 'Why did you fire?' and I answered, 'The company commander's orders were to shoot anyone who approaches the fortifications, because he's a terrorist.' He said, 'Very good' and went away."" (thanks Sarah)

"You’re talking about drawing a line so that how many Israeli Arabs will no longer be part of Israel? At least half.

Polls suggest that 90 percent or more of Israeli Arabs don’t want that. You have 20 percent of the population that’s the Arab minority. You have 80 percent that’s Jewish. From 80 percent of the Jewish population, 70 percent support this idea." (thanks Sus)

Do you notice that American liberal feminists are always silent regarding manifestations of sexism and misogyny in the Zionist usurping entity? "Just as in previous years, the chief rabbis sent a letter to rabbis all across Israel instructing them to "bring up the Exodus Torah reading during their sermon on Saturday regarding the "biblical prohibition to kill fetuses in their mothers' intestines." (thanks Farah)

This is from the wedding reception of Prince `Azzuz (King Fahd's favorite son who stayed by his father's side all his life because a fortune teller told daddy Fahd that he will be safe provided `Azzuz stays at his side). Mini-Hariri is seen in the picture: he has served for years as "pleasure adviser" to `Azzuz and stood by him through the difficult years when `Azzuz had a multi-million dollar fatal obsession with Yasmeen Bleeth, who used `Azzuz's generosity to feed her drug addiction. And then you ask me where Arab oil money is going, damn it.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

"Michael Moore, appearing on the Rachel Maddow Show on Tuesday night, said the New Zealand cable uncovered by WikiLeaks showed the unsettling reach of US influence. "If they were micromanaging me that much, if they were that concerned about the truth in Fahrenheit 9/11 that they have to go after a screening in a place I don't even really know where it is – I know it's way too long to sit in coach for me – I want to know. Because I think it speaks to a larger issue: if they have the time for that, what else are these guys up to?""

"The United States has pushed the Palestinian Authority to put an end to the vitriolic sermons that the United States and Israel say undercut peace efforts. But it has been careful not to overtly praise the latest effort. While seen as helpful to U.S. goals, the crackdown also reveals an authoritarian streak in a Palestinian leadership routinelyhailed by American officialsfor its governance."

"So far, all those who have previously been summoned have refused to appear before the grand jury. No one has been arrested or charged with any crime, nor has the government specified any alleged crimes that it might be investigating. Although The Electronic Intifada itself has not been a target of any of the subpoenas -- contrary to some media reports -- we consider the grand jury investigation and all of the subpoenas to be part of a broad attack on the anti-war and Palestine solidarity movements and a threat to all of our rights. We offer our full support to our colleague Maureen Clare Murphy and all those who are being harassed for their lawful advocacy of a just and violence-free US foreign policy." (thanks Matthew)

"In October 1977, a month before Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s famous visit to Jerusalem to proclaim his desire for peace, the settlement of Halamish (pop. ca. 1,000) was implanted on the hillside opposite al-Nabi Saleh.Since then – in parallel with the never-ending “peace process” – Halamish has expanded from its original foothold in a Jordanian police fort to occupy nearly half the historic lands of al-Nabi Saleh.The remaining village lands are mostly on the north side of Road 465, which runs on the floor of the valley separating al-Nabi Saleh from Halamish. In December 2009 settlers from Halamish expropriated the natural spring of ‘Ayn al-Kus on the south side of Road 465.Several weeks later, Halamish settlers burned down 150 of al-Nabi Saleh’s olive trees near the spring.The Halamish settlers did not receive authorization from any Israeli authority for these acts of aggression.Both the US government and the European Union recently reaffirmed that all settlement activity is illegal according to international law.But this does not impinge on the army’s mission to protect the settlers, whether or not their actions are “legal.”" (thanks Joel)

"An Israeli lawmaker has met with the leader of Austria's far right amid protests from the Jewish community. Ayoob Kara, a deputy minister and a member of Israel's ruling Likud Party, told reporters Tuesday that he considers Heinz-Christian Strache and his Freedom Party as partners in the fight against terrorism and that there was nothing in the group's program that "isn't kosher.""

"An Iranian man was given 80 lashes in public for drinking alcohol, ISNA news agency reported on Wednesday, a punishment aimed at discouraging others from such behaviour outlawed in the Islamic Republic."

They interviewed the head of the Jordanian archeological department on Al-Arabiyya TV (the station of King Fahd's brother-in-law which is run by Prince `Azzuz). He talked about a major dig by the "American university of Trent." Kid you not.

"The Jerusalem Police have arrested seven youths and two young men from Jerusalem and nearby settlements on suspicion of assaulting young Arab men after having a 14-year-old girl seduce them. The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Tuesday released three of the teens on bail under limiting conditions." (thanks Farah)

"Hundreds of documents have been stolen from the database of Yesh Din, the NGO monitoring the legal situation of Palestinians in the West Bank. The group's legal adviser, attorney Michael Sfard, said his office also had also internal use documents stolen."

"Britain urged the US to join it and France in lobbying the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which regulates satellite transmissions, against the Iranian government, while also acknowledging that it had no enforcement authority." (thanks Nu`man)

"U.S. diplomats criticized New Zealand's reaction to the 2004 arrest of two suspected Israeli spies, accusing New Zealand's government of using the affair to increase its export of lamb to Arab states, the Guardian reported on Tuesday, citing cables released by WikiLeaks. Ties between Israel and New Zealand grew strained after two Israelis, thought to be Mossad agents, were caught trying to illegally forge local passports. New Zealand's then-Prime Minister Helen Clark suspended high-level diplomatic relations until Israel formally apologized over the incident in 2005. (thanks Olivia)

"Just weeks after several dozen state-employed rabbis ignited a major controversy by issuing a letter calling on Israeli Jews not to rent or sell their homes to non-Jews, and one day after an anti-Arab demonstration in Bat Yam, Tuesday saw two more incidents in the rising tide of hatred and racism that appears to be sweeping the country. In Jerusalem, police said on Tuesday they had arrested nine members of a suspected youth gang that has been targeting Arab passersby in the center of the city in recent months. Police officials also released information on the arrests, which were carried out over a two-week period. The suspects, who are reportedly residents of Jerusalem and nearby settlements, have been released under house arrest until the completion of the investigation. Meanwhile, in south Tel Aviv, hundreds of residents demonstrated on Tuesday against the presence of foreigners in their neighborhood. Holding signs declaring "We've been afraid long enough, send the infiltrators home," among other demands, protesters called on the government to deport aliens and refugees, and on local landlords to refrain from renting them apartments. Several dozen right-wing activists who do not reside in Tel Aviv were said to have joined the demonstration as well." (thanks Sarah)

In the contemporary history of the Arabs, the name Grand (not really) Ayatullah Sistani will go down on the same shameful list of people like Anwar Sadat, Salam Fayyad, Muhammad Dahlan, Rafiq Hariri, Bashir Gemayyel, King Fahd, King Khusayn, and Iyad Allawi. It will be remembered that Sistani sold Iraq to the American occupiers.

PS No, I am not writing this because of the widely circulated story in Arab internet about an alleged section in Rumsfeld's memoirs about him. I know that the story is a hoax.

Look at this story and the headline: "Israeli Airstrike Kills Militants in Gaza." In other words, Fares Akram was able to examine the dead bodies and determine that every one of them is a militant. When asked, Akram said that the blood of militants is purple and not red, thus making it very easy for him to determine a Palestinian militant from a regular human being. He cites "Palestinian security forces"--which in present-day Palestine is a euphemism for Israeli-trained, Israeli-supplied militias under the leadership of a US general.

Look at this lovely chronology in the New York Times: "A rocket fired fromGazafell close to a kindergarten in an Israeli village on Tuesday morning. Earlier, the Israeli Air Force struck several targets in Gaza in retaliation for a recent increase in rocket and mortar shell fire." So even though the Palestinians were retaliating against Israeli murder of Palestinians and air raids on civilian targets, the article by Kershner makes it look like that the rocket fried from Gaza (a fire cracker really) started the "cycle" of violence--as the US Department of State calls it when Israel resorts to violence and terrorism.

Those Zionist US leaders explain why the anti-Semitism of Kissinger should be ignored: "Clyde Haberman referred to the shock and dismay of some in the Jewish community in response to certain comments by Henry A. Kissinger in a 1973 conversation with President Richard M. Nixon. However, the fuller Kissinger record should be remembered. Just several weeks before this conversation, Mr. Kissinger and Nixon agreed to provide Israel with 100 advanced aircraft and to remove Israeli issues from the State Department to the White House, something strongly sought by Golda Meir, who was then prime minister." So according to them, had the Nazis supplied the Zionist movement with missiles and weapons, their anti-Semitism would have been forgiven too.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

"Erupting so many years after the September 11th trauma, this spasm of anti-Muslim bigotry might seem oddly timed and unexpectedly spontaneous. But think again: it’s the fruit of an organized, long-term campaign by a tight confederation of right-wing activists and operatives who first focused on Islamophobia soon after the September 11th attacks, but only attained critical mass during the Obama era. It was then that embittered conservative forces, voted out of power in 2008, sought with remarkable success to leverage cultural resentment into political and partisan gain. This network is obsessively fixated on the supposed spread of Muslim influence in America. Its apparatus spans continents, extending from Tea Party activists here to the European far right. It brings together in common cause right-wing ultra-Zionists, Christian evangelicals, and racist British soccer hooligans. It reflects an aggressively pro-Israel sensibility, with its key figures venerating the Jewish state as a Middle Eastern Fort Apache on the front lines of the Global War on Terror and urging the U.S. and various European powers to emulate its heavy-handed methods." (thanks Nader)

This article by the "editor" of the mouthpiece of Prince Salman and his sons is very cute. Saudi propagandists are not permitted to criticize any Arab government except Sudan and Syria and Hizbullah and Hamas. The rest are off limit. So this guy (whose articles are more effective than Ambien) criticizes the Sudanese president over the public flogging of a Sudanese woman and then adds: "The intention here is not to object against the application of Shari`ah." So what is your objection then? You can't have it both ways. You are under orders to criticize the Sudanese government but you can't dare criticize this medieval application of Shari`ah? Spare me and go ask the permission of the prince to drink a glass of water.

"NICOLAS Sarkozy will take another lurch to the Right with a speech on New Year's Eve calling Muslim prayers in the street "unacceptable". After his expulsions of gypsies and a crackdown on immigrant crime, the French President will warn that the overflow of Muslim faithful on to the streets at prayer time when mosques are packed to capacity risks undermining the French secular tradition separating state and religion." (thanks Nasir)

"Far-right political parties in Europe are stepping up their anti-Muslim rhetoric and forging
ties across borders, even going so far as to visit Israel to hail the Jewish state as a bulwark against militant Islam." (thanks "Ibn Rushd")

Something is going on among the Arab "victims" of Wikileaks. I notice that to either preempt Wikileaks release or to compensate for published Wikileaks, Arab officials are increasing their anti-Israeli rhetoric. Suddenly, Husni Mubarak cracks an Israeli espionage network when his own regime spies for Israel. Fu'ad Boo hoo Sanyurah issued a fierce anti-Israeli statement against Israeli flights over Lebanon, when he was silent during the Israeli July war on Lebanon and colluded with Israel through the French. Lastly, the Saudi government sent aid to Gaza wrapped in words of sympathy from House of Saud. Something is going on. It can only mean: stay tuned. More wikileaks are coming out SOON.

Just a few days ago I wrote that Roger Cohen is the least unreasonable among those who write on the Middle East in the New York Times. How wrong I was. Look at this utter racist trash by someone who stopped for a few days in Beirut (and visited Al-Akhbar's offices and received a good lecture about Zionist media). Look at his words: "This mocking “analysis” is often deployed deadpan by my colleague, Robert Worth, the New York Times correspondent in Beirut. After three years living in Lebanon and crisscrossing the Arab world, he uses this “theory” to express his frustration with the epidemic of cui bono thinking in the region. I say “thinking,” but that’s generous. What we are dealing with here is the paltry harvest of captive minds." Can you imagine if this was said about Jewish people or Africans? Can you imagine the uproar? All those who write in the New York Times should write under the headline: Proud to be Racist (and ignorant). In fact, you can easily dissect his words: you can easily see that what is referring to as irrational thinking among Lebanese is very rational indeed: that the US exploits the Hariri tribunal and all UN agencies; that Israel has penetrated all communications systems in Lebanon, and now even Mubarak regime (a friend of Israel) has accused Israel of recruiting spies in Syria and Lebanon to penetrate the telecommunications systems; that Hariri himself was a tool of Syrian mukhabrat and not a foe of the Syrian regime. In fact, the stupidity is in the analysis of Cohen and not in the thinking of those Lebanese he thought he was mocking. Spare me your few days visits to the Middle East and your chats with cab drivers. I would rather read the phone book and get more insights on the Middle East. (thanks Farrah)

Comic by Terry Furry, reproduced from "Heard the One About the Funny Leftist?" by Cris Thompson, East Bay Express

As'ad's Bio

As'ad AbuKhalil, born March 16, 1960. From Tyre, Lebanon, grew up in Beirut. Received his BA and MA from American University of Beirut in pol sc. Came to US in 1983 and received his PhD in comparative government from Georgetown University. Taught at Tufts University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Colorado College, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Served as a Scholar-in-Residence at Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He served as free-lance Middle East consultant for NBC News and ABC News, an experience that only served to increase his disdain for maintream US media. He is now professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. His favorite food is fried eggplants.

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